Shining Gold and Tarnished Silver
by Gemtail
Summary: She was as gorgeous and brilliant as shining gold while he was little more than a tarnished scrap of silver. However, he couldn't help but be so drawn to her, especially after seeing her new piece of hardware. For once, he felt some commonality with his enemy. So he had to pursue her because, after all, Mercury orbits closest to the Sun. Mercury/Yang fluff.


**I hope for success! If you guys like this enough, I may write another short story. I can only manage short stories for now due to time. Especially with the internet at the school cutting out every half hour and causing me to lose half an hours worth of work! Ugh! I hate it!**

* * *

Promise of a better life. That was all Mercury wanted. Cinder promised him this and though she has disappeared somewhere, somehow this fight was considered a victory. Cinder was everything to him and Emerald. She had given them purpose. She had made them belong somewhere. The happiness and carefree attitude of how everyone was around him at Beacon sickened him. Here they were acting like all was right with the world while others suffer. Mercury himself was living proof: the scars on his body, the prosthetic legs, his remorseless killings were all going on while everyone pretended the world was all butterflies and rainbows. He wasn't going to let these kids go on like this with everything going on around them. He was going to make everyone know what pain was. He was going to make sure they suffered for living so happily while people like him were left to fend for themselves. Mercury believed himself to be fighting for equality. He believed himself to be fighting for a cause he believed everyone deserved and he sure as hell wasn't going to let these weak students around him stop him. He was here to make sure none of them caused him trouble. He relished the way he had the crowd going, thinking he was actually injured. It didn't hurt him none when her fist connected with his leg but, it did sure as hell surprise him that she actually did break it. Emerald didn't even need to make the sound for it for everyone to hear it break.

He was fascinated by Yang. But, more than that, he was enamored with her. He decided that, if she's not killed in battle, he will take her and do whatever he feels like. He wanted her all to himself, tied up, and naked. However, when he saw Adam cut her arm off, it broke him a little. He later convinced himself that it was only he that wanted to ruin her and not Adam. He convinced himself that he was simply jealous that Adam had taken the liberty of compromising her. However, he briefly checked on her as he was retreating on back home with the others. He wasn't used to seeing her the way she was. She seemed so void and he saw that she had a stump where was once one of her powerful arms. Mercury cringed but then glared at Yang for being distraught over just one arm or so he tells himself. He was honestly just pissed that there right in front of him, something that he was so drawn to was suddenly destroyed inside. she reminded him how bad he was distraught over losing his legs. Mercury walked back off towards where he left from, cursing Adam, cursing Yang, but mostly, cursing himself. He'd never admit it to anyone but... he silently hoped that she would persevere this. He hoped it would ruin her enough to sway her to his side... or at least something that wouldn't result in her dying from their next attack.

* * *

Yang looked out her window, blankly. She wondered where Blake had ran off to. Why had she run off by herself after all that? Is she really running away because she is a coward like Adam had said? Was Blake really just siding with everyone because she thought this was the safest way? Was she doing this just to stop from being hurt? She never even has the guts to wear her ears proudly. Faunus are being treated equally, it's just that there are only bad people in this world who will never except anyone different. So she focused her mind on Mercury.

Her blood boiled at the thought of the match after figuring out that it must have been some kind of ruse. Not only that, she also heard from Ruby that she saw Mercury standing sometime before the battle at Beacon. Yang swore she clearly felt what she thought was a knee cap break completely out of joint when her fist slammed into it. He must have some kind of secret but then the silver boy was full of them. Then she got to thinking more and more on Mercury. He must have made that all an act which means he wasn't fighting to his fullest. While the thought was a little disheartening, it also excited Yang a little. She distracted herself from her missing arm with fantasies of finding Mercury and testing his true strength. She even chuckled at the fact that her now missing arm and his leg where what made first contact during that fight. It was an odd irony she thought. Almost as if fate itself was foreshadowing what would happen with cruel humor. But then again, it was also her fighting style: she always led with that arm. She looked at her arm and then her fist clenched. She was going to be better than Mercury in every way once she's out of here. She will get a new arm and she will make sure she beats Mercury with it, no doubt about it!

* * *

Mercury decided one night to visit Yang again to see how she was recovering. What he encountered had to be the most amazing sight he had ever seen. She was sparring with her uncle and she looked as if someone had set her aflame using the sun itself regardless of her new, shiny, gold arm. She was fighting Qrow with such a determination that he had never seen before. However, Yang has had this determination but, this was the first time Mercury himself was seeing it. She had a beauty that he never truly took time to appreciate until now. Her golden hair waved behind her gloriously, her lavender eyes were alive, and her body beautifully moved with much more purpose than ever before. She was for once, using her head more. She was actually strategizing even though she was still straight forward as ever. She used her new prosthetic arm as if it was always apart of her, Mercury even believed she fought better with it. Rising with the spring was the new Yang and the woman herself was fighting knowing that soon, very soon, the new team RWBY was going to be back, better and stronger than ever before... But, Mercury, still thought of her as a weakling still but he had to admire her spirit. Yang was just shining as bright and brilliantly as a golden coin in the sunlight. He knew then and there: he wanted her.

However, this was not going to be easy for either of them.

* * *

Mercury waited for the night to come. Yang was passed out on her bed. Even her sleep didn't look all too peaceful. Mercury hopped in through the window, carelessly letting his landing make a noise. He had drugged her father so that he won't hear anything. Mercury wasn't looking for a fight even though he knew he was going to get one. Yang shot straight up and looked at him, her body in a defensive position. She was rearing for a fight.

"You! What are you doing here?" She growled.

"Just admiring the new hardware." He said, gesturing to her arm.

"You want to have a closer look?" She said before firing a shot at him.

He deflected it out the window and pinned Yang down with relative ease. Mercury was stronger than Yang thought and he wasn't letting up. His eyes bore into hers. Yang glared up at him.

"What do you want?" She snarled.

He didn't say anything. Mercury had her but now he had no idea what he wanted to do with her. Sure, he had a rather painful boner by pinning her like this but it didn't feel right. None of this did. He had the clear thought that he was going to have her whether she liked it or not but now, he can't stand the thought of her going through anymore pain. So he swore under his breath and got off of her. She tried punching him only for the punch to be caught as he settled on the edge of her bed.

"Cool it, hon. I can do much more than block and pin you so, if you're smart, I wouldn't try anything." He said.

"What the hell are you even doing?! If you're going to kill me, you should have done it by now." Yang said, throwing another hit.

This time, she knocked one of his arm plates off as he tried blocking. Mercury swore under his breath and thought he was going to have to block another hit when he noticed she was pausing rather long. She was staring at his arm. He grimaced and stared at the wall blankly. He was ashamed of that scar but hey, since he was really itching to find a way to jump her bones without somehow raping her, he may as well let her have a good look. He still felt rather awkward under her gaze. Here he was, may as well looking like a tarnished piece of shrapnel from something silver and she was a flawless coin made of gold. Yang noticed he was visibly sensitive about his marked arm. This was a side of Mercury she never expected. Maybe there was a reason he was the way he was. Could he just be misguided? What could have happened to him that he's kept these scars hidden? What happened to him that made him gain these scars? Yang's motherly side couldn't help but take over: something she didn't show after she lost her arm until that night.

"How...?" Was all she could say.

"Let's just say my father trained me hard. Really hard. He rarely forgave me for screwing up." He said.

The old Yang would have made some kind of comment. All she could do was lay her hand on the arm and trace the ugly scar with her finger. She didn't have the heart to use her prosthetic arm. She also felt ashamed for her own scars. She suddenly felt sad for her enemy as she traced how rough some parts of it felt, how there were even more than one. Who would do this to their own child?

All Mercury could do was sit there and let her scan his arm with her good hand. She kept her other arm at her side, seemingly almost forced. She kept it at her side, almost seeming to keep it out of sight. She was ashamed of her arm. She was too much like him when he lost his legs. Hell! He's still like that! His excuse was originally that he wanted to keep them a secret weapon. But Cinder didn't care whether he had them uncovered or not. They could have come up with other ways to frame Yang or someone from Beacon easily. The point is, Mercury didn't like seeing Yang ashamed of something considering of how proud she is as a person. Besides: hers was an arm and to him, it suited her. So he grabbed her metal arm with his scarred arm, forcing her to stop scanning his. She tried pulling it away.

"Don't!" She said.

"I let you get away with looking at mine, the least you can do is let me get away with looking at yours." He said.

"But you at least have your arm!" She said, angrily but an anger that can only come out of fear.

"It doesn't make you any less of a woman. Rather than let it define you, you should own it and you do! I saw you with Qrow! You're not crippled! You're not any less human than anyone else!" He said, pissed at her shame.

"What do you know?! You have your arms!" She snarled.

"Oh yeah, this is what I know!" He said, lifting up his leg onto the bed and pulling up his pant leg to show her.

Yang froze in shock.

"Both of my legs are like this and it hasn't stopped me from doing anything!" He snarled.

Yang's hand fell over her mouth in shock. Mercury sighed and covered them again.

"Before you ask, yes, my dad did that, too." He said bitterly.

Neither of them said anything. Tarnished silver and shining gold sat in that room quietly. Both of them were opposites: he was arguably sadistic, she was motherly, he fought strategically and carefully, while she fought relying solely on strength, her life was fairly happier, his was a living hell, she was also far stronger that he would ever be but in a different way. She could out strength him given time, he knew she could but, for now, he was stronger. She wasn't even trying to really overpower him. In fact, even if she seemed to have regained her drive, she was still broken. In that instant, the pair of opposites found commonality: a thing that unites everyone. For it is never opposites that attract but it was always commonality. Both of them were broken... both of them were equal and opposite. Yang didn't know what to say or do but she decided there was one thing she could do to make up for this: she reached forward with her metal arm and placed it on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." She said.

He then looked at the metallic hand and put his hand over it. For the first time, Yang was allowing her new arm to be treated as if it was a normal arm and to be used as a normal arm. It was odd to her how natural it felt and at first, it almost sickened her. The only real reason why she was ashamed of it at first was because Blake ran. Yang knew that Blake probably couldn't handle the guilt. It was the reason why she probably ran off in the first place. It meant that she lost a friend and her good partner because she just had to recklessly try to charge at an enemy she knew nothing about. She was ashamed because, to her, it reminded her how stupid she was for going after Adam. Yet, as she felt Mercury's hand over hers, though she can't feel the warmth of his hand, she could still feel the pressure of it. She sighed, got out from under her covers, sat next to Mercury with both her legs still on the bed. She placed her arm so that her shoulder was touching his.

"Fine. You can look." She said.

Mercury wordlessly took her arm and looked at it. He was honestly intrigued by the prosthetic. Compared to his legs, it was much more incredible to him. It was also heavy because of the bulk of it and the combination of having her Ember Celica implanted into it. He had her bend her elbow at the joint, he looked at the area where it joined into her arm, and then he moved to her forearm. He looked at the built in adapter for it so that the gauntlet can be taken off but it seems that she leaves it in. Her wrist moved normally and could turn 360 degrees if she wanted it to. He then looked at her hand and tested out the fingers, having her flex them every now and then. He then placed his hand against hers. He laced his fingers between hers after awhile. Yang didn't know if he was being affectionate or trying to see how it feels but she hesitantly tightened her grip so that they were holding hands.

"See? Nothing to be ashamed of, hon." He said with a genuine smile.

She felt her eyes fill with tears. She no longer felt so... sad about having this thing. She suddenly felt that maybe she could pull off having this piece of hardware for life. How could she have known that Adam could deplete aura with one swing of his sword anyway? Accidents happen. She buried her face against his shoulder.

"Thank you..." She said, her tears falling onto his bare arm.

Mercury felt his normally cold hardened heart melt like his name sake into a heavy puddle. He felt a painful attachment to the blonde crying against his arm. He finally, then and there, accepted the truth that he was drawn to her because it was a simple crush. But now, it had deepened and he felt himself grow painfully attached to her. He felt like he could trust her not to be disgusted with his past and the scars it came with. But, he decided to test that by simply seeing just what exactly she'll let him get away with. However, he had to at least ask.

"Can I stay awhile?" He asked.

"Why?" She asked.

"I don't really have anywhere else to go and you're pretty." He said, nudging her with his arm.

"Fine." She sighed.

Mercury stood up. He removed the covering on his other arm silently and took off his boots. He detached the guns on them so as to not make them go off. Yang, rather than questioning or stopping him, looked on curiously. He unzipped his jacket, revealing that he wore a simple black tank top underneath. Yang noticed a mark on his abdomen because the tank top hiked up a little as he took his jacket off. She lifted it a little for a better look. Mercury decided to let her have a better look and took his tank top off. Normally, Mercury never does this. Even when he would lay with a girl, he never allowed her to stare if he even took his shirt off. But Yang was different; he wanted her to see his scars. He wanted to see what she would do. He allowed her to investigate him. No, he wasn't all scars but the ones he had were pretty nasty and deep. Some of them were pale due to time and one on his back wasn't all that noticeable from a distance. Yang finally looked at his back. He simply focused on the feel of her hand tracing the scars.

"Wow. This isn't the worst I've seen but they're... they're just so... well..." She said, unable to find a word for them.

"Hideous?" He asked.

"No, not at all. I kind of like them but honestly, it's just that some of them seem so extensive even though theirs not too many." She said.

"I lost my legs because of that old man. You think those are extensive?" Mercury chuckled.

"I'm afraid to ask how you got these." Yang said.

"How about we save that for another time? I'd rather not talk about it right now." He said, lying down on her bed.

"Hey!" She said.

"What?" He asked.

"You're expecting me to share the bed with you?" She asked, annoyed and flustered.

Mercury smirked and pulled her down next to him.

"Hey! Let go!" She said, swatting him.

"Well you either lay next to me or sleep on the floor because I refuse to sleep anywhere else." He chuckled as he wrestled her.

She then straddled him and held his hands to the side of his head. She easily out strengths his arms but not his legs. Mercury twisted his body around and used his legs to completely flip their positions so that he was straddling her. She still held his hands up though and he couldn't do anything else with them. They were at a stalemate in their little game. Mercury then flipped them both onto the floor.

"Well fine, then we're both going to be on the floor." He said.

Yang sighed in defeat.

"You're rather desperate to snuggle with me, aren't you?" She asked.

"Well you're pretty and I can't pass up the chance." He said, grinning.

She pouted and Mercury got onto the bed. Yang looked at him with a pout but he simply patted the area next to him. She huffed and plopped right onto the bed next to him. Yang wasn't shy or anything, she was just giving him a hard time. As far as guys go, she was more than happy to snuggle with a cutie like Mercury. The only issue was: he's her enemy. Yang still rested her head over his heart despite that. Mercury ran his fingers through her golden locks. Yang was such a beautiful girl, probably one of the most beautiful girls he's ever laid eyes on. He never truly got to appreciate her beauty until these past few weeks. He laid there, having a hard time believing that just weeks ago he was able to kick her with no qualms about it. Now, he had no desire to do anything along those lines. He was just tarnished silver next to a brilliant piece of gold. He wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on top of her head. Yang drifted off asleep, enjoying the contact.

Neither of them wouldn't know if they could face each other in battle again. Mercury was, for once, wondering if his fight was worth it. Yang was suddenly a live miracle because she actually gave Mercury hope. He suddenly had something that he never had in a long time: someone to love and someone to actually fight for. Granted, he just started whatever kind of relationship this was with her but he felt it in what was left of his heart that there was no way he could let her go. There was no logic to this attachment. None. It was instinctively, intuitively, and just about every other reason he suddenly cared for this girl except in a logical form. He fell asleep, tarnished silver suddenly, for once, becoming shining silver.

* * *

 **I've wanted to make a Yang/Mercury fic for a long time. They fit together too perfectly. I mean, think about it! They're practically made for each other. Mercury, the planet that orbits close to the sun and Yang's name means 'light' or 'sun'. Their past with parents. Their color themes! Even the fact that he has prosthetic legs and Yang will likely have a prosthetic arm, this is just too perfect for me.**


End file.
